Five Years Time
by thisis-A
Summary: Ezra hasn't had so much as a Facebook message from Aria in years, but that doesn't stop her from being all he can talk about on his date. One shot, possible two shot. Set post time jump.


**A/N: This is a little different from other things I've done, and it's set post time jump! I hope you enjoy!**

"So, what's your star sign?" Rachel asked before taking a sip of her red wine, gaining eye contact with Ezra. _Star sign? Really?_ Ezra thought, but answered nevertheless.

"Um, Aquarius, I think." He answered, trying to subtly check his watch. It wasn't that he was having a bad time, this meal just seemed to be going on for a very long time and the main course hadn't even arrived yet. Rachel cocked an eyebrow. Her eyebrows were quite nice- a little thin, maybe.

"Aquarius, nice. I'm a Gemini but don't worry, I'm not as bad as the magazines will tell you." She joked, letting out such a laugh that Ezra felt he needed to join in, but he didn't really get it.

"Don't worry, Gemini is actually my favourite." He said nonchalantly. _Oh no, that sounded like flirting! Oh wait, this is a date, I'm supposed to be flirting._ Rachel smiled warmly.

"Oh really? Why would that be?" She asked teasingly, and Ezra swore her voice adopted a husky tone. Should he tell the truth? Probably not. Was he going to? Probably.

"I just knew a Gemini a while ago. She was great." As soon as he said it, he knew he shouldn't have. Firstly, because of the disappointed look on Rachel's face. Secondly, because once he started talking about this particular Gemini, he wouldn't be able to stop. Rachel looked uncomfortable, not sure where to take the conversation.

"Well, I appreciate anyone who gives us a good name!" She said with a fake grin. Ezra simply smiled and nodded, so Rachel carried on. "So, tell me more about yourself. What are your interests?"

Ezra pretended to pause for thought, but he knew his answer, as it was the same answer he gave on every date. He took the opportunity to properly look at Rachel. She was rather pretty, with short blonde hair and blue eyes. Her fashion sense was pretty tame, based on the scoring system that her outfit couldn't injure anybody. Okay, time to answer the questions.

"Well, I like to read. I guess that's no surprise, given my profession." He said, giving a conversational smile.

"Oh of course, you're an English teacher, right?" She asked, reaching for a breadstick. She broke it in half and offered one to Ezra, who politely shook his head.

"That's right." He nodded.

"I admire you, I'd never be able to teach, especially teenagers!" She laughed. "What are your students like?"  
Ezra momentarily froze up, but Rachel didn't seem to catch onto it. _Of course, she's not from here, she doesn't know._

"…Some are better than others." He said carefully. "But all in all, they're good kids."

The conversation fell flat for a little, and Ezra realised he needed to ask Rachel what she did. God, dating etiquette was hard. Why couldn't he just be in a relationship already, so he could skip the awkwardness and go straight to the cuddling on the couch watching old movies, maybe eating a slice of pie or something?

"Where did you say you worked, again?" Ezra asked sheepishly, embarrassed that he had forgotten. _I need to come up with an excuse if she questions me for not remembering. I… got lost in your beautiful eyes, that's what he'd say. Her eyes were sort of nice. He preferred hazel to blue, but blue was still okay._

"I didn't." Rachel laughed, causing Ezra to relax. "I work in a photography company. Do you take photos at all?" She asked, seemingly not realising how awkward this date was.

"Not me, no. I got my old girlfriend this vintage camera once and took a few joking photos, but she was the real photographer." His eyes suddenly came alive. Oh God, there was no turning back now. "She actually won a competition, and managed to get a huge prize and internship in LA. She took lots of photos of dolls, it was kind of creepy, actually. But at the same time-" He stopped himself, finally catching onto Rachel's fallen expression. _Right, it isn't common courtesy to cheerlead for your ex at a date._

"She sounds great." Rachel said with a plastered smile, speaking through slightly gritted teeth. Ezra knew he was blowing it, but he couldn't find it in himself to be too concerned.

"She is." He had to say it, even though it was up there in the worst things he could say. Trying to redeem himself slightly, he continued. "But sorry, I shouldn't be talking about her right now. Let's talk about you. What are some of your favourite films?"

Ezra got excited when he noticed Rachel's eyes light up; maybe she was a fellow cinephile. That would create conversation at least.

"My all time favourite movie is _Twilight._ Don't laugh, it's actually a lot better than it sounds. It's a lot more than Team Bella or Team Jacob." She explained. Ezra forced an enthusiastic nod.

"Right, yeah, I remember when a lot of the students were into _Twilight._ " Ezra said. _10 years ago. Mainly freshman girls._ He added in his head.

"So what about you? What movies to you like?" She asked, twirling her straw around her glass of water. _Why hadn't the main course arrived yet?_

"Mostly old films; have you ever seen _It Happened One Night_?" He asked, not really expecting her to say yes.

"No, should I?" She asked flirtatiously, suggesting that they should watch it together. If Ezra picked up on her insinuation, he certainly didn't show it.

"I don't know, it might not be your sort of thing. I mean, there are no vampires." He joked. Rachel giggled.

"Maybe I should give it a go, it's always good to broaden horizons. Perhaps you could show it to me some time?" Rachel's lips curled into a seductive smile. Ezra cleared his throat.  
"Maybe." He nodded. "I don't know if I even still have the DVD. I used to watch it all the time with my girlfriend, but I haven't watched it since she left."

Oh God, he did it again. The smile vanished from Rachel's face, and she looked down at the table, ripping her napkin into little pieces.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, Rachel looked up at Ezra, her eyes soft but sad.

"Can I ask something?" She started. "Why are you here?"

Ezra's eyes widened; what sort of question was that!?

"What do you mean?" He fumbled over his words. Rachel sighed, reaching over to lightly touch Ezra's arm in a friendly manner.

"I mean, it's clear that you're still in love with your ex. I don't know what happened between you two, but obviously you're not over it. Or her." She said gently. Ezra could feel his cheeks reddening as he looked down at his empty plate. God, he had screwed this one up.

"I'm sorry." He apologised. "You're great, but you're right. I'm still not over her." He admitted, before realising that was the first time he had said it out loud. It felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of his shoulders, but at the same time like a tonne of bricks had fallen on him.

"Why don't you tell me about her?" Rachel asked kindly. Ezra didn't know why she was asking that, or even why she was still here, but he wasn't going to miss an opportunity to talk about her.

"Well, she's… amazing, really. She has this huge heart, bigger than you could imagine. And her mind is beautiful, you could get lost in it so easily. She liked to write, and her stories were the sort that you would think about for days. She was very passionate, she didn't take no for an answer. If it wasn't for that we would have never got together in the first place. And she was… breathtakingly beautiful. The kind of beautiful where she got more beautiful every time you looked at her. And… sorry, I should stop now." He said, awkwardly playing with his collar at the realisation that he had talked for over a minute. Rachel was sitting there nodding understandably. Eventually she spoke.

"Well, she sounds incredible. And she was very lucky to be so loved by you." She said genuinely. "Where is she now?"

Ezra let out a breath, slightly puffing out his cheeks.

"I don't know. Last time we spoke she had just finished up her internship in LA. I hope she's in France, though. That was always the dream." He said, a soft sheen of some indistinguishable emotion coating his eyes. Rachel gave a sad, soft smile.

"Wow, you really do love her." She said with a cocktail of tones. Ezra looked at her confused, so she elaborated. "Well, you want her to be on the other side of the world, just to be happy. If it were me I'd want her to be right here."

The words struck hard for Ezra. He contemplated them for a second before replying.

"Well, I'm not completely selfless. Sometimes when I'm walking up the stairs to my apartment I imagine that I'll open the door and she'll be on the couch with a bowl of popcorn, watching some old movie like nothing changed." He admitted sadly. Rachel bit her lip.

"What's her name?" She asked shyly.

"Aria. Aria Montgomery." He informed, the name tasting bittersweet on his tongue. Rachel's eyes squinted as if she was hard in thought.

"Aria Montgomery? Why do I recognise that name?" She asked rhetorically. Ezra's heart beat fastened; did she know her? Did she know where she was? If she was okay? Suddenly Rachel's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open slightly. "Isn't that one of the girls who got kidnapped by that psycho?"

Ezra's pulse slowed down and his heart dropped a little.

"Yes, yeah that's her." He said quietly, angry at himself for allowing the false hope.

"Wow, that's crazy!" She exclaimed. "I remember that being on the news every day for weeks! What did he _do_ to them down there?" She asked, her eyes imploring into Ezra's. Ezra shuffled uncomfortably.

"Even if I knew, I probably wouldn't be able to tell you. She was very secretive about what happened in those weeks." He said with the slightest undertone of bitterness. He had wanted more than anything to help Aria, but it was hard when he didn't know exactly what she needed help to recover from.

"So, why did you break up?" Rachel asked, deciding that pressing the kidnapping thing was probably a touchy subject. Not that this would be any easier of a topic. Ezra heaved a sigh and shrugged.

"We were at different stages in life. She had just got out of school, I was in my mid-twenties, and I didn't want to tie her down. Our relationship was too precious for her to ever grow to regret it." He said sadly. Rachel raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

"So that was, what, five years ago? So she's… twenty-three? Twenty-four?" Rachel questioned. Ezra didn't know what she was getting at, but went along with it anyway.

"She turned twenty-four in June." Ezra confirmed. Rachel nodded, smiling slightly ruefully.

"Of course, she's the Gemini." Rachel gave a friendly wink and Ezra looked away sheepishly. "Listen, you're clearly still crazy about this girl- why don't you give her a call?"

Ezra shook his head, sadness washing over his features.

"I don't even know if she has the same number." He said in admission. Rachel reached over the the table and grabbed Ezra's phone, before unlocking it and scrolling through his contacts.

"There's only one way to find out." She smiled, cocking an eyebrow. She handed over the phone, which was now loyally displaying Aria's contact details. Ezra's mouth dropped open in shock, and the thought came over him that if he wasn't still so in love with Aria that he would really like Rachel. She was kind, even if she was a Gemini.

Did he do it? Did he completely disregard five years of trying to get over her through pressing one button? Did he cave in and chance hearing that sweet, sweet voice he had missed so much? Hands trembling, his eyes flitted between Rachel and the screen. Rachel had an encouraging smile, maintaining her supportive eye contact.

"What's the worst that can happen?" She asked rhetorically. Ezra could think of a million possibilities, each of them ending with Ezra's already battered heart completely shattering. This was a bad idea. This was a terrible, terrible idea. What did Rachel know? She was a Gemini, for Christ's sake! He locked the phone and put it back on the table.

"I don't think I can do it. What do I even say? 'Hi, Aria, I know you've made no effort to talk to me for five years but is there any chance you're still madly in love with me and want to pick up where we left off?' I mean, what if she's moved on? Like husband and kids moved on? I don't know if I'd be able to deal with that, and I'm sure she wouldn't appreciate me dropping in and complicating her cereal-box family life?" He groaned, feeling slightly sick with the idea that Aria may have what they used to with someone else. Maybe she even had _more._ Of course, most of him just wanted Aria to be happy, but a small selfish part couldn't _stand_ the thought of her loving someone else. Rachel, who clearly had the patience of a saint, reached over and touched his hand supportively.

"Come on, look at it this way: It goes well, and that's great! It goes badly, and that gives you an opportunity to start getting closure. That's what you're lacking- closure." Rachel reasoned.

After about fifteen minutes of back and forth between Ezra and Rachel, Ezra found himself with his phone pressed to his ear, listening to the dial sound. With each ring Ezra's stomach churned further, not being ready for this even after five years. Ezra was beginning to doubt that she would pick up as the rings went on and on, but all of a sudden he heard the receiver being picked up. He was almost certain his heart stopped for a few beats.

"Ezra?"

 **A/N: I'm not sure whether to keep this as a one-shot or to continue it, so please let me know! I hope you enjoyed this, please let me know what you thought:)**


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